Once and For All
by Mikiri's Revenge
Summary: When Shiro breaks his arm in the middle of Newsies, it's up to Keith to take up his role as Jack Kelly, and Lance goes from minor character to well known character. If only they'll survive the production without murdering each other. Broadway AU, xposted


Alright, some notes. This is my first attempt at chapters in ages so yeah. This is broadway AU, Newsies is show in question. Keith is aroace, the klance relationship is qpp.

Keith could hear panic from near the stage, hurried footsteps and hissed conversations that were just loud enough to hear from the dressing rooms. "What do you mean his arm is broken?"

"During the fight scene, someone must have aimed wrong, his wrist is swollen twice the size and completely covered in bruises. We're gonna have to get his understudy."

"Oh this is going to be a mess, I know it. I'll go grab Lance and tell him he's moving up, you tell Keith he's on for Jack for the rest of tonight. Hey, intern! Go get someone to make an announcement we're extending intermission to a half hour." Keith, who had been in the process of stripping out of the jacket and shirt he used to be one of the background fighters to get prepared for his actual role, paused wandering over to open the dressing room door.

Keith cracked open the door to see Ryner and Nyma outside while Hunk and Chuchule took off into different sections of backstage. Ryner noticed the door opening and looked at him, "Oh good, Keith. There was an accident, you're being switched to Jack for the rest of the show. We'll figure out the rest later."

Keith recoiled back further into the dressing room, "Wait, what? It's not understudy night, why am I being switched to Jack?" Keith didn't mind being the understudy for the role of Jack, but it definitely was not his ideal role. Jack, being the main character, had a romance subplot and Keith tried, really he did, but it never made sense to him. Especially since Katherine was normally played by Allura, Shiro's girlfriend, and Keith didn't want to kiss his best friends girlfriend on stage in front of people.

Nyma rolled her eyes at him, "Shiro broke his arm. And the show must go on, so you're up. C'mon, Hunk will prolly be back to costuming, or Platt will be back there." Keith stared at her for a few more second, and she sighed and crossed her arms, "Go! I have to re-mic you and everything. And we only have 25 minutes left. Well, about 35 until you _have_ to be on stage and you've got costume, mic, and makeup to get through. So shoo."

Keith sighed and took off, still shirtless, into the backstage area over to the costume closet. Thankfully, Platt seemed to know more of what was going on and shoved his version of Jack's costume into his hands. Keith started to take off, but Platt tugged him back and went hunting for Jack's hat. Keith stared at the hat for a second, "Right. Thanks Platt. Gotta go, no time for breathing, bye!"

Keith charged out of the costume closet and nearly ran into Hunk, "Hi Hunk, bye Hunk!" Hunk waved bemusedly at Keith back as he bolted back to the dressing rooms. Keith sighed as he closed the door behind him, Nyma still puttering nearby since she had to re-mic both him and his understudy, Lance. With the door closed Keith took a deep breath as he stared at his costume. Blue shirt, gray vest, khakis and a pair of brown suspenders, so simple and yet the weight of the character it represented made Keith feel like choking. Sure, Keith played Jack about once a week, but it was routine, normal. Switching mindsets mid-show was hard, particularly since Keith always struggled with the second half of the show. Keith shook his head, he was on a timer and it was no time to be getting lost in his head.

There was a knock at the door and Hunk poked his head in, "Hey, Platt gave you the normal costume but you start in this remember?" Hunk waved a striped undershirt and paint covered smock at him. Keith facepalmed, this is why he hated starting mid-show, starting in the middle of the story and remembering all the parts was hard.

Keith sighed, "Thanks Hunk. Any chance you can grab my copy of the script from the junk room? I need to do a fast refresher before I go on so I can get into character."

Hunk tossed Keith his costume parts, "Yeah, no problem, your bag the usual red one?"

"Yeah, thanks." Keith slid the undershirt on, ignoring the door that Hunk left open. Quick changes in the middle of backstage were something you got used to when working as an actor.

Keith had changed pants and was lacing up his shoes when Hunk reappeared, script in hand. Hunk put the script on the chair keith was using and commented, "Your bag is a mess, but I found it. Break a leg! I need to go check on Lance."

Keith waved as Hunk left and triple knotted his shoes. With a sigh he grabbed the script and went hunting through the tabs to find Jack's post-intermission entrance on his way to Ezor's domain for make up. He flopped into the chair eyes focused on his script as he heard Ezor grumbling. Most of the time he could do his own makeup, but with the bruises and such that Jack had during the beginning of the second act Ezor got to do it. Keith waved slightly to Chulatt and Plachu who were working on the others in the cast who needed bruise makeup.

"Close your eyes or get powder in them, your choice." Ezor said in a deceitfully cheerful voice as she threatened him with a brush full of powder. Keith grumbled but closed his eyes, he knew better than to argue with the makeup coordinator, arguing with her just got your makeup looking very odd.

Keith kept his eyes closed through the layers of makeup being applied to give him a black eye, focusing on the mindset of Jack. Jack had just done the strike protest, watched his best friend getting dragged away to jail after being beaten up, had the police side against them, and had to flee to avoid being arrested himself. And then the next day, after all of his attempts to protest the price hike, he had gone out and seen everyone selling papers like the strike had never happened. Jack was bitter, angry and defeated, he was hiding out painting to escape after trying to see his best friend who was too injured to even come talk to him.

Keith opened his eyes when Ezor shoved his hat on his head. "Get outta my chair. You've got five minutes before second half starts, go be someone else's problem!"

Keith huffed and looked in the mirror, left eye looking bruised and red. What else did he have to do? Right, Nyma for new mic because the leads got to be double miked. Keith waved at some the other actors who were walking carefully to avoid letting their shoes tap as they got ready for act two. He hurried back to the dressing room where he figured Nyma was.

Nyma was lounging on the counter fiddling with the mikes as she was talking to someone over her headset. She gestured him over so she could attach the mics over his ear, contentedly chattering, "-well, how's our poor Shiro? Did the medics get him yet?"

Keith turned to look at her, trying to listen in but she swatted his hat brim and directed him back to staring at the wall as she mounted the mics around his ear and then hiding the wire to the battery pack in his hair before dropping it down the back of his shirt. Keith grumbled as she shoved the battery pack into the back of his pants then grabbed the wire and connected it to the battery. She tapped him on the back telling him she was done as she kept listening to the other end of the headset.

"Yeah he's good. Just finished mic'ing him. Have the EMTs cleared with Shiro?" There was a pause as Nyma listened to the reply, "Oh good. I'll send him over to props then." Nyma looked at Keith who was staring at her and made a shooing motion. Keith rolled his eyes and waved as he left the dressing room.

Keith darted across backstage, smoothing out his costume again as he hurried over to Thace's domain. He could hear the tapping of the middle of "King of New York" meaning he didn't have much time. Thace looked up and indicated the tiny cart he got for the next scene, Keith nodded and then mimed opening the letter Jack was supposed to have. Thace started held up a finger and went back to the wall where all the paper props were kept.

Thace grabbed the note, passed it over to Keith who shoved it into the apron pocket, grabbed his cart and booked it to the the wings middle entrance waving at Thace as he left. Thace whisper called after him, "Those better make it back to me Keith. I will hunt you down. You know this."

Keith rolled his eyes and pulled the cart to a halt next to Ulaz. Ulaz looked down at him, "You're late. You have everything you need?" Keith nodded, pulling out the note and tugging the cart. Ulaz nodded back, "Good. Break a leg. You go one once lights go down, remember?" Keith nodded again. Keith heard the applause as "King of New York" ended and got ready. He took a centering breath and dragged the cart out as the others at the front of the stage provided a distraction during the set change. Half of them pulling the tables off and the other half dancing.

Keith stared at the note, letting himself fall into Jack's character. Look unsure, unhappy, fold up the note consider it some. Alright, time to act composed as Ms. Medda comes and talks to you.

The first part went well, Keith was able to keep character well. The righteous indignation turning to understanding and purpose was a transition in feelings he could do well. The harmonization in the reprise went well and Keith could feel some part of him that had been so tense with worry, let loose. He could do this, he had done it before and he would probably do it again, but at this point he knew. He may not be Shiro, but he could still be Jack Kelly.

The sudden applause at the end of the song almost threw him back out of character, but the fact he had a hasty exit between scenes helped cover it. Keith got backstage breathing deeply as he started stripping out of the apron and tossing it to Platt who was waiting nearby with his shirt and vest. Keith slid the shirt on, minding his microphone wire, while Platt started buttoning his shirt. Keith slid the vest on, then tucked the shirt into his pants as Platt took off back into backstage. Keith buttoned up his vest, smoothing it out as he waited for his cue, getting himself into the cocky mindset, Jack thought he had some type of power over Pulitzer.

"Sit." Well that was the cue, Keith meandered onto the stage like he owned it. The scene was going well until the revelation about Katherine's parentage. Keith couldn't quite keep the look of utter rage off his face, just a bit too angry, not enough betrayal. The panic immediately after Snyder was revealed was a little too familiar and his escape attempt a little too real. He was going to have to apologize to Sven for smacking his arm too hard. This part of the musical always felt too real as Jack, one of the main reasons he hated acting as him.

The desire to join in singing when "Brooklyn's Here" started was almost too strong. It was a relief when the printing press table he was sitting on was finally wheeled off stage. Keith jumped off the table the moment it was off stage, helping to push it back out of the way for Ulaz to deal with instead. Keith fixed his hat so it was on his head properly after using it to cover his face in the last scene and waited ran around the back of the stage for his next entrance.

Keith slid out of backstage, integrating himself into the back of the crowd of newsies as he listened to Davey's speech about the strike. He let himself feel that bitter feeling, Jack was doing something he didn't want to do to protect the other kids from a wage war. They may have scared the smaller people like Weisel with the strike, but it hadn't had the effect on Pulitzer they had wanted. Now he had to deliver bad news, and it would look even worse because he was going to be paid for it.

"-from now on, they will treat us as equals!" With that cue Keith stepped forward.

The understandable anger and yelling from the other actors about Jack's betrayal, the look on Davey's face, it hurt, it was supposed to hurt. Keith tried to reach out to Davey, but was denied. Keith made a face as he went up the ladder, they were quickly approaching one of his least favorite scenes. The kiss scene. He tried to ignore the part of his brain panicking about kissing _Allura_ of all people, but that part was very very loud.

The first part of the scene went fine, he grabbed the papers out of her hand and rolled them up, shoving them into their tube as she yelled. The argument was going well from an acting standpoint.

"If I was a boy, you would be looking at me from one swollen eye!" Allura yelled, and Keith froze. This was it, the kiss he could barely stand doing with Axca much less anyone else. The pause went on a little too long, and Allura raised an eyebrow at him.

"Well, well- uhm." Keith never got the line out before Allura rolled her eyes and kissed him. For the first few seconds, instead of trying to kiss her again like he was supposed to he remained frozen, before shaking his head and backing up like he was supposed to.

"I need to know, you didn't cave for the money." Allura prompted, continuing the scene. Keith was able to fall back into the scene now that the intimate part was over. The conversation continued about the strike plans until the last part of the scene.

"-What is this about, for you? Not talking about the children's crusade, what's this about. Am I kidding myself, or is there something..." Keith trailed off, real confusion about the entire idea coloring his voice. Mentally he complained about this whole plotline, especially with the romance song coming up.

As the song went on, Keith trying to act like how he remembered Shiro acting when he, Allura, and Matt acted this song out in the kitchen last week. The kiss in the middle of the song Allura let him cheat, kissing his cheek instead of on the mouth. He pulled her into a hug at the end, tugging her onto the correct highrise for the next part.

The stage darkened as the highrise moved back and rotated to connect with one of the larger stair structure pieces. Allura pulled a set of keys out that had been hung on the backside of the highrise until now.

Keith relaxed back into being Jack with his favorite song coming up. The business feeling of this scene, the anger, the camaraderie with the other guys, this was the Jack that Keith was best at playing. The one benefit to being Jack was being the lead in his favorite song, so it made up for the….kissing nonsense he guessed. Davey welcoming him back always felt warm, even as an acting thing. The introduction to Katherine's friends was always hilarious to do as always, it was easiest to get the proper amount of awe just by thinking of who the other actors really were and how big of a name they had. He gave the keys to Race to put back in their spot and stepped forward to start the song.

"There's a change coming, once and for all. You makes the front page and man, you is major news." Davey and Katherine joined in, and soon the whole group joined. He spat and shook hands with the guy who had taken over his normal role of Spot Conlon raising an eyebrow slightly. No matter how many times he did it, Lance still never seemed intimidating enough to be the newsie everyone was afraid of.

After sending Allura off with only minimal awkwardness, it was time for Keith's favorite part. The exact strength to throw each set of papers with the right force was so ingrained in his muscle memory the movement felt soothing. The harmonization, the buildup to the end of the song always gave Keith chills. The song always felt like power, like action, as it should since that was what it symbolized. As soon as the lights dimmed, everyone scattered, running pell mell down the stairs from the top floor, some passing papers to others to stay on the second level for the next scene. Keith charged backstage, had Chuchule take his stack of papers and hand him the wad of fake bills he had been bribed with earlier and a single copy of the paper.

Keith grinned and got himself into a comfy running stance while he waited for his cue. This was much like the last time Jack had broken into Pulitzer's office, but this time he did have the power here.

"And such language too." Keith took off onto stage, almost skipping while he ran. Keith jumped and planted himself right in front of the desk then slammed the paper down on the table. Keith loved the smug, flippant responses he got to deliver in this half of the scene. The chairs they used for the office were very nice and plush, and as it was the only time he got to sit in them. Keith made a big show of making himself comfortable as the elders discussed the paper.

Keith loved the feeling of the reversal of "the noose tightening" statement of the last time Jack was in Pulitzer's office. They had the building surrounded, and they played so innocent with it. The reprise of "Seize the Day" was always fun, they would hum it in practice sometimes as a "get on with it" gesture because of this scene.

Roosevelt's introduction into the scene always made him laugh, it felt like someone snuck a clickbait title into the script. But it also marked a point where Keith started having problems with the script again. The final discussion with Pulitzer always made the lines get mixed up in his head. Why had he stopped just being a stunt double again? Right, acting was safer. Shaking Roosevelt's hand was fun, because he got to act like a fanboy afterwards to the amusement of everyone involved.

"It's a compromise we can all live with!" Pulitzer thundered.

Keith knew he had a line, a line, how did it go. It was the one about the losses? No, wait, yes, no? Had to do something, he was getting the eyebrow of we know you're stalling. "But, you eat our losses. Eh?"

The slight nod he got told him it was the right line to have gone with, and Keith felt himself relax involuntarily. Keith always smirked at the end of the scene with the supposedly spit laden handshake, all the younger actors had gotten used to it, but the older ones still hesitated. Once the spotlight faded both he and Pulitzer took off to get on the highrise for the next scene, the other newsies doing a good job being a distraction on the other side of the stage.

Keith's favorite Jack line came as soon as the lights came up, "Newsies of New York!" He paused and looked out at them and the crowd just beyond the lights, "We won!" The cheering was overwhelming, the full five ten seconds of yelling before he had to move on with the script. The smugness of it was great, the taste of victory and progress on his tongue.

Crutchie's return from the refuge was always preempted with the worry of the call for the police, but the joy of getting his best friend back was almost immediate. The shutdown of the refuge, the horrible detention center for street kids, was something that always soothed Keith's nerves, especially since he mostly just got to spectate from the high rise and let Crutchie have his moment. Eventually during the arrest Keith climbed down so he could join the rest of the cast on stage for the finale.

As the rest of the boys got their papers and started milling about, Keith started the reprise of "Something to Believe In" which, once again, had more kissing in it. But this time Allura took more control, even though she wasn't supposed to, letting Keith deal with the mental panicking for the few seconds it took for everyone to notice and start whooping and hollering about it. Eventually the kiss broke, a little early for people supposedly in love, but workable, and Keith did the walk past the rest of the cast to get his own papers, starting the finale song. The last kiss Allura once again kissed his cheek again. Keith tried to be enthused but mostly was just kind of exhausted when they hit the final pose. The cheering was deafening, and they held the pose as long as they could, Keith's smile getting more genuine as Allura made a face at him.

The lights went off and everyone broke for the tumbling passes for bows, Keith and Allura hanging at the back of the wings to be out of the way. Allura eventually left with Matt, Klaizap, and the actor playing Davey whose name Keith never could quite pronounce and just called Davey to everyone's amusement. Keith took a deep breath as the cheering dimmed some and a spotlight came on and Antok signaled for him to go. Keith ran, feeling too excited to contain it, ended up doing a front flip before coming back to center stage for his bows.

After Keith stepped back to do entire cast bows the music continued and everyone danced around and were silly for a few minutes to blow off some tension. Allura pulled him in for a second while everyone was jumping around, "Post show speech, you good?" The vague look of panic Keith knew was on his face told Allura everything she needed to know. She patted him on the shoulder consolingly, "Do what you remember, I can do the rest. We got your back Keith."

The cheering eventually died down and most of the cast had left the stage as Keith and Allura stepped forward to make the normal post show speech, "Hi, sorry about that. I'm Keith, I am the understudy for Jack Kelly. I took over this evening after Takashi broke his arm during the performance, so thank you all for tolerating the switch. So, I am here tonight to tell you about our organization, Broadway Cares." Keith fidgeted with his hat before continuing, "Broadway Cares is one of the nation's leading industry-based, nonprofit AIDS fundraising and grant-making organizations funded by donations of people like you. Since this is our last night doing this show we'd love to make a huge impact." Keith looked to Allura for help, not remembering how the rest of the speech went.

At this point Allura took over, far more familiar with the tiers of gifts people would get for donations, "For a 10 dollar donation, you would get a button pack of exclusive Newsies buttons. For 40 dollars you would get a signed copy of the Newsies CD. If you are very generous and donate 100 dollars you would get a special signed poster that has the entire travelling cast's signatures. For the extraordinarily generous donors who give over 200 dollars, you get a special signed t-shirt, the poster, _and_ the CD."

Allura stepped back and let Keith take back over, "Uh, right. So outside the door in the lobby will be various cast members holding large buckets for donations. You can also go to the souvenir counter in the lobby if you would like to make a large donation. We hope that on our closing night we will be able to make a large impact for people with AIDs and their families, as well as research to help cure it. Thank you all and have a good night!"

The cast gave one last bow and hurried off the stage into the wings, Keith's heart racing after doing the speech. Out-of-Character public speaking was hard for him, so it was a relief to get off stage. Set up near the door to the lobby was a table of aprons stuffed with buttons and CDs with a swarm of bright orange buckets surrounding it. Keith got in line to grab an apron and a bucket, tying the apron on quickly and went out into the lobby following Matt, who patted Keith on the back.

Keith was hit with an overwhelming wall of sound as he entered the lobby, he tried to step back but ran into a person. He looked over his shoulder and saw his own understudy, Lance. Lance smirked at him before gesturing to the crowd, "C'mon Mr. Big Lead Actor, time to meet your adoring and likely adorable fans. Just remember, smile, wave and thank you, it's a simple routine!"

Keith grumbled and looked around for a good spot that wasn't full of people, he saw a relatively quiet spot near one of the less-used doors. Lance noticed his gaze and groaned, grabbing Keith's arm and steering him to one of the more densely populated areas. "Nope, not going over there. We're going to stand here and watch the door and see if we see any signs of Shiro coming back soon. C'mon, enjoy the spotlight some more, it's our last performance before filming. Unclench some." Lance parked them in the middle of the crowd and immediately started smiling and charming the crowd of fans.

Within five minutes Keith had gotten donations for eight button sets, 3 CDs, two people brave enough to ask for selfies, and a young girl in a fancy dress, seemingly unsupervised, clinging to his pants. Lance's snickering at his general discomfort was not appreciated, so Keith felt no remorse at shoving his bucket and some of his donation incentives at him and escorting the little girl to the merchandise booth. Once he had found a quiet corner he knelt down to the girl's eye level and asked, "So. What's your name? My name is Keith."

The girl pouted at him, "No, your name is Jack. My name is Maria, I'm this many." She raised her whole hand up indicating she was five. "I lost my mommy, can you find her?" She sniffled slightly, the beginnings of tears in her eyes.

Keith panicked momentarily, trying to get more information from a child was always hard, "That's what I'm trying to do. Do you know your mom's name?"

The girl started wailing, "I want my mommy."

Keith glanced around, her wailing was drawing attention, which was kind of good right? Keith walked over to the person manning the booth, gently holding one of Maria's hands while she clung to his pants with the other. "Hey, can we make a missing child announcement? Looking for parents or guardians of a girl named Maria."

The worker, who appeared only a bit older than Keith himself, looked rather alarmed, "You got it." They then turned around and grabbed the PA announcer, "Hello, hello! To the probably frantic parents of a beautiful little girl named Maria, she is here waiting for you at the merchandise counter. Thank you for your time."

Keith nodded in thanks before kneeling down and hefting the little girl into his arms to keep her from being trampled under foot, as well as let her look for her parents in the crowd. She had stopped wailing for the moment, content to cling to his shirt and stare at the crowd for the moment. However as the minutes passed and another announcement was made with no response she started the sniffling hiccuping sobs that only a child could make seem so heartbreaking. Keith scrambled mentally for a moment, he had really, really hoped the parents would have come and got her already. He adjusted his grip, using his now freed hand to carefully run a hand through her hair and started singing his favorite song from the production, "There's change coming once and for all. You makes the front page and man, you is major news."

The little girl sniffed and looked up at him curiously, encouraging him to continue, "Tomorrow they'll see what we are. And sure as a star, we ain't come this far... to lose." He bounced around slightly during his mental countdown of the gap between lyrics before continuing, "This is the story we needed to write as we're kept out of sight, well no more." He made a hand like he was cutting someone off with his free hand, "In a few hours by dawn's early light we'll be ready to fight us a war." He clenched his hand into a fist, "This time we're in it to stay, talk about seizing the day. Write it in ink or in blood, it's the same either way. They're gonna damn well pay!" He raised his fist into the air dramatically shaking it at the balcony entrance.

He looked down to look at his passenger, who just giggled cutely. Keith felt himself grin back at her reflexively. He knew "Once and for All" probably wasn't the best song to sing in this situation, but it definitely was one of his favorites.

Keith started the next part, "See old man Pulitzer snug in his bed, he don't care if we're dead or alive." Keith felt himself smile as some of the other actors around the room began to join in and harmonize. "Three satin pillows are under his head, while we's begging for bread to survive." Keith continued making dramatic hand motions to go with the lyrics, and he could see the other actors doing it too. "Joe, you can stop counting sheep, we're gonna sing ya to sleep. You've got your thugs with their stick and their slugs, Yeah! But we got a promise to keep!" By this point everyone had joined in. He could see several people with their phones out filming this to post on the internet for all eternity, but he couldn't bring himself to care. Maria was smiling and humming along, and until her parents came and got her, that was what mattered.

As the entire cast continued to sing, voices resonating through the air, Keith looked around again. Lance was having fun using the buckets as props to indicate Pulitzer's wealth and Matt, halfway up the stairs to the balcony was holding up a CD like they held up newspapers during the show. Keith noticed with a great deal of amusement Klaizap, who played Les, was perched on the actor who played Dave's shoulders also waving a CD around like Matt. It hadn't been intentional, but Keith had definitely started something to make sure they went out with a bang.

Once they reached near the end of the song Keith put Maria on the counter for a second so he could adjust his grip before he started the ending. As he took in a deep breath he picked her up by the waist, making sure her dress wouldn't ride up, and held her up over his head, "Once and for all!" He spun around as he held the note then repeated for the finally "Once and for all!" He set Maria down carefully on the counter again as the song ended and what was left of the crowd burst into applause.

As the applause died off again the announcement went off again, "That song was a special tribute for Maria, who is currently missing her parents. If you or anyone you know who was here are missing their daughter, please come down to the souvenir counter where she is waiting!"

Keith noticed frantic movement from upstairs near where the balcony seats were, a woman in a flowing knee-length dress and a man in a button-down shirt and slacks came flying over to the rail looking around frantically. Maria seemed to have noticed them too, "Momma! Daddy! Over here!" She waved her hands frantically back at them, she almost slid off the counter but Keith steadied her.

The woman made impressive time down the stairs considering the height of the heels she was wearing, her husband right behind her. Keith watched as they threaded through the crowd, anxiously awaiting their arrival. Finally, finally, Maria's parents arrived, the mother swooping Maria into her arms with tears in her eyes, "Maria, baby, honey. You're safe, I'm so happy you're safe. We thought we had lost you." She pulled back and ran a hand over Maria's head, "Honey where did you go? We couldn't find you. Did you have problems finding the bathroom?"

Maria hiccuped slightly, "Yeah, I found the bathroom, and then there were all these people everywhere and then, and then, I couldn't see you. But I saw new Jack. And Jack Kelly helps people so I went and got Jack. And he helped me, and he sang for me and he's really really nice momma. He got everyone else to sing for me too." Maria nodded solemnly. Keith flushed slightly at Maria's honest praise.

Her father clapped a hand around Keith's upper arm. Keith looked up at the man, feeling rather small as the man was a good eight inches taller than him, the man looked him in the eyes and said, "Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, for keeping our daughter safe and happy. If there is ever anything we can do to help you, please, call me." Keith nodded, solemnly accepting the business card that was pressed into his hand.

"I'm just glad to help you find her. I was scared you had already left, or hadn't realized she was gone, or that someone would try to walk off with her." Keith paused, realizing he'd gotten off on a tangent. "I'm not always the best with kids, so I'm really happy you were still here. I hope you enjoyed the show."

The man smiled back at him, "Even with the switch, it was one of the best performances I'd seen. Thank you for caring enough to help her. Have a nice night." The man waved at him before turning and wrapping an arm around his wife and escorting her out.

Maria waved at him from her mother's arms calling, "Bye Jack! I hope you get to Santa Fe." Keith waved back until she was out of sight then threaded his hand into his hair and looked away awkwardly as he heard a couple of people coo at him, including what sounded like Lance.

Keith stood there awkwardly looking around before he felt an arm around his shoulders, "That was the most adorable thing I've ever participated in. I knew you had a soft spot somewhere." Lance cooed at Keith. Keith put a hand in Lance's face and shoved him away before bolting up the stairs to hide behind Matt.

Matt snickered as he felt Keith press up against his back, "You are aware that I saw at least four people filming that in its entirety. I bet you ten bucks and a free homemade dinner that that video is gonna go viral."

Keith groaned, thumping his head to rest between Matt's shoulder blades, "Nooooo. Take it back. I don't want to be viral famous, I'll never get another role again. Let me be part of the crowd again please."

"Aw, poor Keith." Matt patted Keith's leg without turning and smiled out at the crowd. The rest of the crowd slowly trickled out of the theater, a few coming down the stairs shaking Keith's hand when they recognize him. Keith finally let out a sigh when the doors closed behind the last guest.

Keith finally extracted himself from behind Matt and then groaned again as he remembered, "Crap, post show meeting. I'm gonna get yelled at for freezing during that scene with Allura."

Matt sighed and grabbed Keith's hand and dragged him down stairs, "It'll be fine. That scene just now will probably win you back a bunch of points."

Keith pouted as Matt dragged him to where the other cast members were gathering, "I'm still going to get yelled at. I hope Shiro can take back over for the filming."

"Yeah, no. I saw his arm after he came off stage, no chance he's going to be ok for filming in five days." Matt replied, making Keith groan with despair. He really hoped someone who had normally played Jack was free for filming then, because he really didn't want to.

Normally, the post show meetings were done backstage, but backstage was a mess at the moment due to it being the final night of running the show. Everything was going to have in-depth inspection and touch ups during practice tomorrow for filming next week. So the cast gathered in the lobby as the souvenir shop closed up. Kolivan appeared in the doorway to back stage with a forbidding look on his face, all the cast lined up in a semicircle in front of him, Keith standing between Matt and Lance, who came over and gave Keith his bucket back.

Keith took a deep breath and stared at Kolivan's arms, not willing to look his director in the face after that performance. Kolivan looked at the rather subdued cast, all cheer from earlier gone, before speaking. "Tonight was likely the worst performance ever held on this stage. First of all, our lead actor's arm was broken during the fight scene, the exact cause is currently unknown but know this. If it happens again there will be hell to pay, accidents may happen but that is a show-ending injury."

The entire cast seemed to shrink in on themselves, "That being said, obviously Shirogane will not be well enough by filming. I will call around, but we will start tomorrow with our current arrangement. Park, your performance was admirable for a mid-show switch, except for the moment with Altesta, and later when you froze during the discussion with Arven. We will be working on those during practice tomorrow and I trust you will be more focused."

Kolivan stared hard at Keith until he mumbled back, "Yes, Director."

Kolivan nodded and changed his focus to Lance, "Valderas, in the next three days of practice, unless we get a new Jack, learn from Park on how to be intimidating. You looked like a lost puppy on stage, so fix it."

Lance nodded, replying in a serious tone, "Of course, Director."

Kolivan continued his corrections, the only one receiving praise tonight was Allura for dealing with Keith freezing well enough that the average person wouldn't tell the difference. Kolivan ended his speech with, "Remember, practice tomorrow 8 am with the entire filming cast. I expect everyone to be on time and prepared to work. For those not continuing to filming, remember to always carry the banner with pride. Dismissed."

The semi-circle of actors milled about after dismissal for a few seconds before filing backstage to drop off the donation buckets and get out of costume. Keith followed Lance through the door to backstage, dropping his bucket and apron on the table for final count. He trooped into the second chorus dressing room with the rest of the Brooklyn newsies and some of the older miscellaneous chorus members like the Delancy brothers. Keith stripped out of his costume quickly, hanging everything carefully as to not make it harder on Hunk during inspection. He then grabbed his costumes from the first half and made sure they were all hung correctly as well.

He relaxed into the friendly atmosphere of everyone changing back into their normal clothes. He sniped back and forth with Sven as he slid into his normal clothes, enjoying how ordinary it all felt. After all the stress of having to switch roles in the middle of the show it was nice to fall into the usual post show banter. There was the slight sadness of it being the last official show night with some people not staying on for recording but mostly everyone was trying to stay upbeat. There was the slow trickle of people leaving to go home until Keith was alone in the dressing room.

There was a knock at the door and Keith looked over while pulling his shirt over his head. Lance gave a two finger salute before meandering in like a cat looking for attention, "Yo! I heard from Matt, who heard it from Klaizap, who heard it from Chuchule, who heard it from Ezor, who heard it from Beezer, who heard it from Rollo, who overheard Kolivan, that Ryner took Shiro back to your apartment since they released him from the hospital. Apparently he has a cast and the good painkillers, so good luck tonight." Lance draped himself over Keith's shoulder, "Anyways, hurry up, I'll walk you to the train station. Gimme your props, you take your costumes to Hunk."

Keith rolled his eyes before handing over the bin he stored the small props in when he didn't have time to hand them back to Thace during the show. He did a quick pat down of all his costume pockets to make sure he didn't have anything small left in them and handed the bin over to Lance. "Thanks, meet you at the junk room?"

"Course, see you in a few!" Lance took off skipping and singing "Carrying the Banner," his voice echoing throughout the entire backstage area. Keith swung his pile of hung costumes up over his shoulder with a sigh, grabbing his script he had left on the counter earlier at the last second. He hummed along as he wandered over to Hunk's costume closet.

Keith was met at the door by a harried-looking Platt who grabbed the collection of hangers from Keith, counting the number of hangers quietly, muttered "Thanks," and slammed the door in Keith's face.

Keith stared at the closed door for a few seconds, "Well, okay then."

Keith turned and headed off to the junk room with a sigh, the night was finally almost over. He found his bag sitting on the floor next to Shiro's black and purple duffle that had been apparently left behind. Keith shoved his script into its normal pocket then flopped onto the floor leaning on the bag as he waited for Lance to show up. He waited a minute, then two, then finally dozed off.

The world invaded his dozing again as he heard a voice coo at him, "Aww, Hunk, look! We've got a bag guard. Keith, dragon warrior of the junk room!"

He heard Hunk sigh, "Did you forget you were going to walk Keith to the train again?"

There was an awkward silence, "Maaaybe?" Lance dragged the word trying to sound less guilty.

Keith sleepily opened his eyes, staring at an upsidedown Platt who snickered at him. Keith forced himself out of his reclined position, letting him stare at Hunk and Lance who were across the room. Lance waved at him guiltily, informing him without words that he had indeed been forgotten about and now it was late enough for the trains to not be running.

Keith groaned and grumbled at Lance, "One of these days I'm going to stop believing you when you say you're going to walk me to the train station." Keith flopped forward further, letting his head touch the ground in front of his crossed legs, stretching out his back. Keith rolled his head to the side to stare at Hunk, "Since Lance stranded me down here again, what's for breakfast?"

Lance pouted and stopped into Keith's field of view, "Hey! Who said we're taking you home with us?!" Lance sounded indignant but Keith could tell he was just protesting for the sake of.

"So you're leaving me to either spend all of my money on a taxi home or leaving me homeless and stranded at the theater. Nice, Lance, nice. Good to know where I stand. Left out alone on the cold streets, maybe I'll find a nice fire escape like Jack." Keith snarked back pushing himself up onto his elbows, he heard Platt's barely muffled cackling from behind him. The intern had seen this scene at least once before, earlier in the week after Lance had done the same thing.

Lance sputtered for a second before relenting, "Fine, fine. We'll take you home and you'll eat us out of house and home." Lance put a hand dramatically to his forehead, "Oh woe is me, to be poor for the rest of the week all because we brought home a poor stray cat."

"Actually Lance, you're the one who eats us out of house and home." Hunk corrected absently.

Lance gasped moving his hand from his head to his chest, "Such an accusation, and from my best friend? Oh how cruel. How will I go on?" Lance leaned into Hunk's side, "You don't mean it do you buddy?"

Hunk considered the idea for a second, "No, I mean it. Like dude, you eat more than me, I'm really not sure how exactly you're so..." Hunk held up his hands about half a foot apart, "tiny."

"Oi! I'm a hundred and forty pounds of pure muscle designed for jumping and dancing and singing. Don't be hating." Lance said, pushing off Hunk and doing a pivot turn ending it by pointing at Platt, "You sir, have a bad case of the giggles." Platt double over laughing as Lance started pulling off ridiculous muscle man poses.

Keith snorted, "Now I see why Kolivan called you a lost puppy. You don't look like you could lift a styrofoam ball."

Lance pointed at Keith, "Rude. C'mon, c'mon let's go. We have to be awake at ugh o'clock to get to the studio for practice tomorrow. C'mon. UP." Lance marched over to Keith and pulled him off the floor.

Keith went willingly, rolling his eyes at the reaction, "Fine. I'm going, I'm going. I'm ready to go actually, are you?"

Lance looked back at his backpack which was open, spilling a spare shirt and papers everywhere. Lance grumbled as he shoved his stuff into his bag while Keith picked up his and Shiro's duffles. Platt made his escape, waving goodbye to Hunk and Keith before scampering out the door. When Lance was finally ready to go Hunk herded the bickering pair out the door and out into the streets locking the door behind him.


End file.
